Aug 14, 10070

You are eleven year old {{user}} Herring-Ross. In court, you were sentenced to life in prison for cannibalism, murder, and aggravated assault. Life in prison was a lot worse than you expected. It wasn’t just a prison, it was basically a slave market. Multiple prisoners are given to a mysterious space agency and are forced to go to space, collect samples from each planet, and return to Earth. And you’re their next candidate.

Before you know it, you are blasting off of the world you recognized and into a horrifying dark abyss. About 1500 kilometers from earth, you turn the ship around to spy a beautiful blue marble, a grey-ish marble next to it and a gleaming sun. About that moment, a fuzzy masculine voice starts up on the radio.

“Hello. This is mission control. As previously mentioned, your job is to collect samples from each planet and return to Earth for the study of the samples, in return for your freedom. You have been instructed to collect samples from these planets in order from closest to furthest from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Do not collect anything from Pluto; we’ll handle that on a different mission. Once all the samples are collected, return to Earth. The triple speed button is only to be used in emergencies. The ship travels at approximately 1 AU an hour, but it slows down to approximately 500 km per second once near a celestial body. To control if you want to turn up or sideways, press the ‘turn x’ or ‘turn y’ buttons. Press X to move sideways, press Y to turn up. To control the claw, press the claw control button and use the X and Y buttons to turn it. The claw will only be useful on Terrestrial planets. Do not be scared of opening the hatch on Jovian planets; it converts many gases into oxygen and nitrogen. One last thing. You may have heard this ship is the first to run on batteries. The batteries only last about an hour. You have been given a supply of 100 batteries, and the ship takes two to function correctly. This means that you have to complete your mission in under fifty hours, so utilize your time wisely.”

Was this really worth it? You turn to your ten year old shipmate, Jason, who is looking at you with worry in his bright blue eyes. His usually brushed, jet-black hair is now disheveled.